Ask any 13 month old if they are having the time of their life now that they are no longer that helpless little baby they once were, they’ll probably crinkle up their faces and tell you to go to hell.
Well, at least that’s what I think my 13 month old Squirt would tell me. If only he could talk!
With Squirt now successfully embarking on one of the most annoying stage of toddlerhood, he has been showing a side of him which I have never really seen before. He has been displaying a wide range of moods and behavior – from being super affectionate to frustration to full-blown stubbornness. He is much more vocal in expressing his frustrations, and when he doesn’t get his way, he voices out his opinion in the form of temper tantrums that could no longer be mitigated by a simple distraction.
He throws things around, he gets really, really cranky whenever he doesn’t get what he wants and he wrestles when you try to pick him up to remove him from the situation. And he is a big boy! When he struggles and wrestles while I try to hold him, every muscle in my body ache after that.
He’ll get extremely annoyed when he vocalizes while pointing at stuff to us, and if we didn’t get it right the first time, he WILL scream his head off impatiently. He doesn’t have much patience for “guessing games” when he sets his mind on something, and often, it would then escalate into quite a major crying feat in pretty much no time at all.
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| The I-have-only-one-tear-drop-cry |
I forgot how annoying this period of his life is – we struggle to understand what he is trying to say, and he gets so easily frustrated because he just couldn’t quite tell us exactly what he wants. It is not the most pleasant period, and every now and then, I can feel my patience thinning away.
He is getting a little bit more difficult with food (even thought our Nanny says otherwise!) and distracting him with other stuff does not seem to be effective these days. While I try to encourage him to self-feed, his interest would usually last no more than 5 seconds before he starts screaming his guts out pointing at random things which he wants me to get for him, which includes my GLASS of water.
I cannot tell you enough HOW.BLOODY.FRUSTRATING.THE WHOLE.FEEDING.BUSINESS. CAN.GET. It brought me back to the dark days of when Spud was being difficult with food. I remember Spud being much worse, but at this point, I don’t think I should under-estimate Squirt. I have to keep reminding myself that if he doesn’t want to eat at meal times, then, fine. He just doesn’t eat. He will eat when he is hungry enough to eat and I shouldn’t fuss too much about it.
Urgggh!
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| The I-only-want-the yoghurt-cry |
The upside of all this is that I know Squirt is developing normally. It is what most every healthy 13 months old does as they become more independent and trying to explore their ways about in their own little world. He is a very active little toddler who, like his sister, is always busy and could not keep still. He gets steadier and more confident is his walking, but still stumbles around every now and then. He is more possessive of his toys, and these days, would scream bloody murder and would have none of it when Spud decides to sit on his Buzz Light Year car while she tries to get him to do the pushing.
My only consolation is that he still naps quite OK (fingers x) and he is still that smiley little person (when he gets what he wants). When not frustrated, he can be a very affectionate boy – he would kiss and he would cuddle and he would hug, and he lights up the room with his gargantuan smiles
For the record, after 13 months, Squirt is still is a proud owner of ONE bottom tooth. And he loves to shake his bon-bon to the tune of this Dutch cartoon called Woezel and Pip.
